Laura Serrant OBE

Laura Serrant is Regional Head of Nursing (North East and Yorkshire) at Health Education England and the former Head of Nursing and Professor of Community and Public Health Nursing in the Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She has frequently found herself as the sole voice representing nurses and minority communities – a position which she’s striven to challenge throughout her career by empowering others to come forward to join her, in a unique call to 'lift as you climb'. Laura has an extensive experience in national and international health policy development with particular specialist input on racial and ethnic inequalities and cultural safety. It was her work in this area which led to her being awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list 2018 for services to health policy.  

She is one of the 2017 BBC Expert women, Chair of the Chief Nursing Officer for England's BME Strategic Advisory group and a 2017 Florence Nightingale Scholar. She is an ambassador of the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue and the Equality Challenge Unit Race Equality Charter for Higher Education. Her work has been recognised with numbers awards and prizes, including Queens Nurse status and Fellowship of the Queens Nursing Institute to those who have shown leadership in community nursing. In 2014, she was named as one of the top 50 leaders in the UK by The Health Services Journal in three separate categories: Inspirational Women in Healthcare, BME Pioneers and Clinical Leader awards. In October 2017 she was listed as the 8th most influential Black person in the UK by the Powerlist 2018.